


Pandora

by One and Five Nines (Obani)



Series: Shudder Pulp [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Disturbing Themes, F/M, Genital Torture, Gore, M/M, Torture, Trash Party like themes, autocannibalism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-27
Updated: 2019-01-27
Packaged: 2019-10-17 09:11:37
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,911
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17557517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Obani/pseuds/One%20and%20Five%20Nines
Summary: Tony has this box in his lab.





	Pandora

**Author's Note:**

> If you have any triggers whatsoever, proceed at your own risk. This story was written specifically to be the most upsetting thing I could think of.  
> A lot of stuff happens in this, and I have tagged it as best I could, but I was general and may have missed some things. Also, some trigger warnings are spoilers, so I've put them in the end notes. If you are really unsure about whether you can read this but want to, feel free to message me on tumblr.  
> Even if you don't have triggers, don't read this while you're eating. It's gross.  
> Also, though you may be able to interpret this as anti- Steve or Tony, I Don't Do That. This is not designed to be a dig at any of the characters.

There was something about the box Pepper couldn’t ignore. It wasn’t anything special; just a metal box with latches on the front and a serial number on one side. She would have assumed it was full of tools or spare armor parts if Tony wasn’t so… particular about it.

She and Tony had moved back in together after the engagement, and he’d brought the box with him. He wouldn’t let the movers put it in their van. It had to travel with Tony in his car, and it was heavy enough that it took two men to carry into Tony’s workshop. Tony hovered around the box the entire time the men had their hands on it, staring at it like a lion stares at a gazelle. Pepper had, of course, asked what was in it, and Tony had told her that it was just delicate equipment. There was no reason not to believe him.

Except he didn’t treat it like delicate equipment. Since then, she’d walked into the lab on more than one occasion to find Tony with his feet propped up on it, or using it as a stepstool to reach a high shelf, or just sitting on it while he worked. What was really unusual, though, was how he touched it when he wasn’t thinking. He ran his hands along it and gave it soft, gentle little pats, like he was soothing it. Like he was caressing it.

 “So, what kind of delicate equipment is in the box?” Pepper finally just asked one night over dinner. There was no harm in asking, right?

Tony didn’t even look at her. “Hm?”

“The box. I just want to know what’s in it.”

This time, Tony afforded Pepper a glance, but his face was totally unreadable. It was as if he was deliberately trying not to betray any emotion. “Which box?”

“The big one. The one that says _EZSR_ on the side.” Pepper clarified, and she could have sworn Tony’s expression darkened. “You said it was full of delicate equipment, but I’ve never seen you open it. I’ve pretty much only seen you using it as a footstool.”

Tony laughed. “What do you think? That I’m hiding a body in there?”

“I know it’s a weird thing to get hung up on,” Pepper huffed. “I just got curious.”

After a pause where Tony seemed to consider something, he said, “Alright. I confess. It’s a body.”

“I don’t understand why it has to be a secret.”

“It’s just parts, Pep. It’s just old parts I’m playing around with.” Tony put his hand over his heart. “Scout’s honor.”

Before Pepper could ask any more questions, Tony’s phone rang and he glanced down at where it was sitting on the table. “Damn it. It’s Ross again. I’m sorry, Honey, I gotta take this.” He picked up the phone without waiting for Pepper to answer. She only caught the beginning of what he was saying as he walked out of the room.

“When are you gonna be done harassing me about this? I _stopped_ Cap from breaking his buddies out. A ‘thank you’ might be nice… Well I’ll tell them the same thing I’ve told you about eight hundred times-“

Thoughts of the box tugged at the corners of Pepper’s mind.

 It wasn’t hers, and she _shouldn’t_ open it.

 She was going to, though. At some point she would have to open that box.

Pepper was a CEO and Tony was a part-time superhero, so there weren’t many instances where she was home and he wasn’t. He’d arranged it so that he only ever had to visit the Raft while Pepper was at work. Occasionally, though, there’d be an emergency late at night and Tony would have to jet off for an indeterminate amount of time, leaving Pepper alone. With the box.

Every single time it happened, Pepper would lose interest in whatever it was she’d been doing, and the box would be the only thing on her mind. It took all her willpower not to run downstairs and take just a tiny peek. It came as very little surprise when she finally broke down.

After using her override code on FRIDAY so she wouldn’t be spied on, Pepper hurried into the lab. She would be quick. She would just crack it open the tiniest bit, see what was inside, and close it right back up again. In all honesty, it probably wasn’t anything interesting, but at least she would be able to stop wondering.

Tony’s lab was different since he’d returned from Siberia. The suits he built now were bigger, with visible weaponry and sharp angles and dark paint. They watched over the room like a battalion of gargoyles, and Pepper had to remind herself that they were not alive. They couldn’t see her, and weren’t judging her. They weren’t the only change. In the center of one wall hung Captain America’s shield. The way it was hung, drawing attention like that, made Pepper think of Aldritch Killian and how he’d stripped her half naked and tied her up. A trophy.

She peeled her eyes away from the shield and glanced around the room for the box. It was stashed in a corner, jutting out from the wall at an odd angle as though it had been left carelessly. She walked over to it, ignoring the urging of her conscience, and knelt down in front of it. With a steadying breath, she flipped open the latches and lifted the lid.

When she saw what was inside, Pepper gasped and threw herself backwards.

It was-

It was a _fucking_ body.

Pepper felt cold. She was shaking. She stared in horror at the body, tightly folded up in the box with its head tucked between its legs. It was dead, right? It had to be dead. Tony had a box with a dead body in his lab _oh god_.

Then it moved, but Pepper found she couldn’t scream.

In one smooth, mechanical motion, the body sat up so it was on its knees in the box. Pepper saw then that it was completely naked, and that it was a man. It was a huge man with a broad chest and wide shoulders. Its- _his_ arms hung limply at his sides. Pepper looked up at his face to find a completely blank, emotionless expression. It was so unnatural, it took a moment for Pepper to recognize him.

“Steve?”

Steve didn’t react for a beat, then his head suddenly turned and his eyes focused on her. He smiled, completely normally, as if he had suddenly become a person.

“Actually, I am an artificial replica of Steve Rogers.” He announced. “I am designed to be easy to deal with.”

“Oh my god!” Pepper gasped. “Oh, _thank_ god. I thought you were a corpse.”

She saw now that this thing was very much alive, or some facsimile of it. Its chest moved like it was breathing, it blinked periodically, and Pepper even saw a pulse throbbing in its throat. Tony’s craftsmanship was astonishing. The illusion was only broken by the very faint circuitry Pepper could see just below some parts of the skin.

“I’m not a corpse.” The fake Steve looked her up and down. “Pepper?”

“Okay, so you know me. That’s…” Now that the initial shock had worn off, Pepper was starting to actually think about what was happening. Tony had built some kind of robot, designed it to look like his least favorite person in the world, and kept it secret in a secret box. He’d also programmed it to know who she was. “Weird. That’s really very strange.”

Fake Steve furrowed his brow. “He isn’t going to like that you opened me.”

“I’m not exactly thrilled either, I mean Tony’s making more secret robots.” Pepper realized she was still on the ground, so she stood up and paced around the room. “I don’t understand. What are you? Are you like Vision? Are you like Ultron? Did Tony need to use the mind stone again?”

“I’m not programmed to have free will. I’m not an artificial intelligence. I have no goals or thoughts or feelings.” Fake Steve answered, continuing to kneel in his box. Considering he had no feelings, he looked a little sad. “I am meant to be a physical replica only.”

“Would you like to get out of the box right now? I mean, I guess you don’t like anything, but I’d like to talk to you. Please.” Pepper asked. Whether the thing was a person or not, Pepper couldn’t just loom over it.

It stood up and Pepper took its hands in her own. To her surprise, they were warm.

“You have little hairs on your body.” She marveled as she examined the hands. “You have pores.”

“I am designed to be a perfect copy, down to the smallest detail.” Then fake Steve frowned, and his eyes widened as though he was afraid. Something seemed to glitch. His body jerked as he stammered. “But I’m not- I’m not- not- not- not- perfect.”

Pepper looked over Steve’s naked body, and her insides twisted. She didn’t want to ask, but she knew she had to. “Why does Tony need a perfect copy of Steve Rogers?”

The fake Steve’s eyes unfocused. His body tensed. “I have to… I was built to satisfy him.”

Pepper’s stomach lurched. It was obvious what _that_ meant, and Pepper couldn’t stop the flow of lurid images that invaded her mind. “Oh for _fuck’s_ sake, Tony! God, even at his worst I never imagined… This is low.” She jabbed a finger in the robot’s face. All she could think about was that her fiancé, the man she was supposed to _marry,_ had probably fucked her and then, after she’d fallen asleep, come downstairs to fuck this _thing_. “It’s _disgusting_.”

“He loves you, Pepper.” The thing stared straight ahead. “I’m not real.”

“No! No! You’re just as close to real as he can possibly get.” Her throat burned, and she was suddenly very aware of the ring wrapped around her finger. “This is so far beyond some harmless little fantasy. I mean, it’s not like he’s just jerking off to some footage of you or a poster or something. Look at you. You have tear ducts. You have a _god damn_ foreskin. That’s a lot of effort to put into fucking someone who isn’t me.”

Pepper yanked the ring off and slammed it down on Tony’s workbench. Tears were starting to pool, and soon they would be running down her face. “This is cheating. It _counts_ as cheating.”

“He really won’t like this.” The fake Steve seemed genuinely agitated. “You shouldn’t make him angry.”

“That’s another thing! Nobody makes him angrier than you. Than Steve.” Pepper forcefully scrubbed the tears off her cheeks. “Why you? He hates you.”

Fake Steve shuddered. “Yes he does.”

If she’d had time, Pepper might have analyzed that reaction, but at that moment she heard repulsors landing in the front yard.

Fake Steve scrambled to get back in his box, but Pepper froze. She was caught between the urge to do seven things at once. What snapped her into action was when the robot was almost completely folded up in its box and it called out to her, pleadingly.

“You have to close me in. I’m not supposed to be out without his permission.”

She didn’t think, just pressed the lid of the box back down over the robot’s folded up body and snapped the latches shut.

At that point, Pepper knew she had to leave. She didn’t have a good reason for being in the lab while Tony was away, but as she turned to go she spotted Tony, in his armor, coming down the hallway towards her. He didn’t seem to have seen her, but it was too late now to escape. Pepper hid herself behind a large toolbox, the first thing she found, seconds before Tony walked into the room.

It occurred to her then that she shouldn’t be hiding. She should have kept the robot out, stood there with it and confronted Tony, demanded answers or apologies, screamed until she felt better. She should have thrown his ring in his face. Still, as she watched Tony’s new, hideous armor peel away from his body like a fist unclenching, then slink back to its place with the others, she felt… afraid. The robot had said that she shouldn’t make him angry.

He was so different since Siberia.

Tony stretched and rolled his neck. “I’m starting to hate this. God, and now I have to do it all myself.” Pepper saw Tony shift his attention towards the box in the corner, but from where she was hiding she couldn’t see his face. Just his body, almost shaking as he stared at his box. His voice sounded dangerous when he spoke again. “FRIDAY, did Pepper go to bed yet?”

A chill went up Pepper’s spine. For the first time, she thought that maybe the override code she’d used to hide herself from FRIDAY wouldn’t work. Tony had given it to her before the breakup, before everything changed.

“Actually, Boss, I’m not seeing her anywhere in the house.”

Pepper tried to be as quiet as possible as she exhaled shakily.

“Huh. Okay. That’s convenient.” Tony drummed his fingers against his workbench. “Did she say when she’d be back?”

“Not to me.”

“Well, you let me know when she gets home. Can’t be interrupted.” Tony ordered, and with that he strode over to the corner. He didn’t bend over or kneel down. Instead, he kicked open the latches of the box. Then he just walked away. He didn’t bother opening the lid; he wandered over to one of his shelves and started flipping through a small red notebook he found there.

Slowly, the lid opened as the Steve robot sat up. It looked the way it had when Pepper had first seen it. Blank. Motionless. Vacant. It knelt in the box and waited while Tony read a few pages. Finally, Tony set the notebook down and turned to face the thing.

“Good morning, Cap.” Tony smiled down at it. He looked pleased with himself, like the robot was some kind of joke, and only he knew the punchline. “You can come out and play now.”

Like a switch being flipped, the fake Steve came to life. He gazed up at Tony with a childlike reverence, like Tony was god, and _sighed_ softly. “You’re back.” Fake Steve crawled out of the box, and he continued to crawl on all fours until he was at Tony’s feet. He kissed the top of Tony’s shoe. “I missed you. I miss you so much.”

Tony leaned down, grinning so widely Pepper thought his face might split in half. “I’m here now. What are you going to do for me?”

Pepper felt sick; she didn’t want to have to watch this. She didn’t want any part of whatever perverted games Tony played with his little robot, but she was stuck for the time being, and she couldn’t look away. If she did, if she lost focus, she was sure Tony would catch her. She wasn’t even very well hidden.

“You said…” Steve looked up at Tony, and he appeared so achingly, pitifully hopeful. The contrast between the two was distressing, and Pepper had to remind herself that Steve wasn’t real. He didn’t not actually feel the desperation he was displaying. “You said we could play. I wanna… Can we play?” The robot reached out to Tony, but pulled back before touching him. “Please.”

“That depends.” He spoke with a vicious condescension, mocking the thing’s devotion to him. “Only good boys get to play. Are you a good boy?”

Fake Steve hung his head.

Tony’s smile dissolved. His expression turned unbelievably dark. Pepper instantly thought of Stane, and Hammer, and Killian. But… this was completely different. The robot was just a toy; it wasn’t as though Tony would ever look that way at a _real_ person. Still, his voice dripped with venom. “I asked you a question.”

The thing’s voice came out quiet and broken. “No.”

“No.” Tony repeated. “No you’re not. What are you?”

It whimpered. “I’m a bad, naughty boy.”

“And?”

“Worthless lying bastard.” It sounded almost like it was choking. “Miserable, arrogant, backstabbing piece of shit. Hyp… hypocrite… F…f…failed experiment…”

“Keep going.”

Fake Steve’s tear ducts apparently weren’t just for show. Some kind of fluid was leaking out of his eyes and pouring down his face. “Sorry. I’m sorry.”

“What’s that? Did you say you’re sorry?” Tony laughed hollowly. “Do you think I care that you’re sorry? Do you think that’s good enough?”

“No. It’s not.” Steve gasped, then shut his eyes and took a deep breath. “I need to be punished. I’m bad and I should be punished.”

Tony’s smile returned, along with his light, mocking tone. “There we go. That’s much better, isn’t it? Being honest with yourself?”

“Yes it’s-“ It twitched and began to glitch again. “I’m al-al-al-al-always honest.”

Tony sighed. “I am gonna fix that. Stubborn little bug.” He traipsed around the crumpled form in front of him. “I want you on the empty table over there.” He waved his hand without looking at either the robot or the table.

The robot stood unsteadily and did as it was instructed. It climbed up on the table and sat there, legs dangling. Pepper didn’t know how something so big could look so small. Meanwhile, Tony grabbed a case from one of his shelves, humming a cheerful tune to himself.

Pepper began to think she had read the situation totally wrong. This seemed more like a revenge fantasy than a sexual one. Maybe it was just… art therapy. In that case, it might even be healthy for him to have this robot to work on, and to work _out_ all the anger and hurt and frustration the real Steve had made him feel. Pepper considered just stepping out of her hiding spot, confessing to what she’d done, and apologizing.

She didn’t. There was no reason to upset Tony when she could just sneak out after him, slip her ring back on and pretend the whole thing never happened. She looked over at his row of suits, each more evil looking than the last. No, there was no point in making him angry.

Tony rolled a stand over to the table and set his case on it. “Alright.” He said. “Present yourself.”

Wordlessly, the robot brought its legs onto the table and propped itself up on all fours. It was still crying, and it flinched when Tony cracked open his case. He withdrew a pair of rubber gloves and pulled them on with twin _snaps._ Then he pulled out a metal hook with a very large bulb on one end.

“You know, Cap, I’ve been thinking a lot about mythology lately.” Tony began as he moved behind the robot. He grabbed one of its asscheeks and pulled it outward, then with the other hand placed the bulb-end of the hook against its hole. “All those old stories about gods and _monsters_.”

Tony pressed forward on the hook, and Steve started screaming. It was raw and agonized; he sounded like a dying animal. The bulb was too big, and unless the robot was self-lubricating, there was nothing to ease the slide. It wouldn’t fit, there was no way.

“Stop! Stop! Please, _please_ stop!” Steve wailed, and again Pepper had to remind herself that _it was a robot_. The screaming was a very good imitation of pain, but it was _just_ an imitation.

Tony pushed until the enormous bulb had disappeared completely inside the robot. Just the idea of it made Pepper shudder.

“Take it out! Please take it out! Please, please, please I’m _so sorry_.” Whatever the robot had instead of muscles were straining, and Pepper spotted a trickle of some red liquid running down its thigh.

“Shhh. Listen. I’m going to tell you a story now.” The hook was attached to a cord, and that was connected to a leather strap, which Tony fastened around the robot’s neck, pulling the hook deeper. Steve screamed again.

“See, the way the story goes, back in the day there was an order to things.” Tony was back in the case, and this time he pulled out a vise with two openings. Through one opening, he pulled the robot’s penis, then he pulled its testicles through the other. “Zeus made all the rules, and all the little people on earth had to follow them. And Zeus decided he didn’t want to give the little people any fire.”

Tony tightened the vise once, leaving fake Steve ‘gasping for breath’.

“See, the people didn’t _deserve_ fire.” Tony tightened it again, and fake Steve’s mouth opened like he was going to scream, but no sound came out.

“But then this cat Prometheus shows up, and he thinks he knows better. He thinks he’s above the rules.” Tony tightened it _again_. “And he just goes and _takes_ fire from Olympus. Like he owns the place.” Tony tightened it one more time. This time the robot managed to choke out a sob. Its face was blotchy, and more fluid was dripping out of its mouth, as if it had lost the ability to swallow.

“Can you fucking imagine?” Tony grabbed another instrument from his case.

The robot glitched again, but this time it couldn’t speak. It was just twitching and making noise. Half formed words and animal-like sounds tumbled out of its mouth cacophonically as it jerked, shaking the table.

“Stop that. Don’t make me reboot you.” Tony took the instrument he was holding, something which looked like a cattle prod, and touched the angry looking end to the robot’s thigh. There was a loud _zap_ and the thing crumpled. The glitching stopped.

“That’s better.” Tony waited a beat, then barked. “I didn’t say you could rest. Get back up!”

Shaking, the robot pushed itself back up on its hands and knees. Tony didn’t waste any time prodding it again, and again it collapsed onto the table. This time, however, it was much quicker to reposition itself. There was a lot more ‘blood’ running down its leg now, as well as some dripping from its crushed genitals.

“Alright. I’m going to need you to flip over.” Tony said.

Fluid was leaking out of every orifice in the robot’s face. “Nuh. Kch…k…c…can’t. Can’t m…move.”

“Hey. Didn’t I tell you I’d reboot you?” Tony was so nonchalant, he almost sounded bored. “Don’t make me tell you again, c’mon.”

Gingerly, fake Steve lifted one arm slightly, only to cry out and slam it back on the table almost immediately. Every movement seemed to be shifting the hook inside of him and causing the vise around his cock and balls to swing and tug. If it was real, the pain would have been unbearable. Tony clearly needed this to be as realistic as possible.

“Mm sor…r…ry.” It whimpered. “H…h…elp me?”

“No, see, you don’t want my help, remember? You want to go it alone.” Tony hissed. “ _So do it yourself._ Just like I have to do _everything_ myself.”

It took a long time, with many false starts that had Steve curling in on himself in agony, only to cry out when doing so yanked on the hook. It was… it was incredibly _theatrical_. All the while, Tony would giggle and smirk at it, so it was clearly doing what it was designed to do. Finally, though, when it was satisfied that Tony had seen it in enough pain, it did flip over. It couldn’t lie flat, as that would have pulled on the cord and by extension the hook, so it propped itself up on its elbows and tilted its head back.

Now that the thing’s thigh wasn’t in the way, Pepper could see how swollen its genitals were. The testicles had all but turned black, and the shaft of its penis was gushing the blood-like substance it was obviously filled with. The thighs were now covered in blood.

Pepper found herself cringing.

Tony ran his hand up the perfectly crafted abdomen that the robot was now displaying for him. “This is good. Hold this position.” He cooed. “Do you know how the story ends, Honey? Do you know how Zeus punished Prometheus for being so disobedient?”

Staring intensely at the ceiling, the robot moved its jaw as though trying to form words. Tony turned back to his case. Finally, it got its voice together and spoke. “Z…Zeus tch…t…t…chained him to a cliff. And every day a… uh… uh… an eagle would come… and…. annn… ah…”

Tony turned around. He was holding a long, glinting, sinister knife. “Every day, an eagle would come and eat his liver, and every night his liver would grow back.” Tony laughed. “Rapid cellular regeneration. Just like you. That’s funny.”

The robot looked at the knife, then pointedly looked away. Snot, drool and tears covered its red, puffy face. Its eyes were wide, and they searched the room as though looking for a way to escape. Instead, they found Pepper. As soon as fake Steve saw her, his face lit up with recognition.

“ _No_.” He breathed.

Pepper shrank further into her hiding spot.

“Yes.” Tony answered, as if the robot had been speaking to him.

That’s when he started to cut, and Steve started to scream.

The incision was not small, or careful. Tony sliced into the top of the robot’s abdomen like he was carving a ham. Blood bubbled up like a spring from the wound, and Pepper could smell it. It _smelled_ like blood. The thing spasmed and cried, but held its position as best it could.

“Just shift this around and there it is.” Tony practically sang as he reached inside the hole.

The robot’s fists clenched and it whined from deep in its chest. Pepper saw Tony’s fingers stretching the skin from the inside. He was grasping around something, and then he was drawing it slowly out, and then he was holding a dripping liver above the bloody hole he had cut.

It had a liver.

But, of course it did. Tony had planned this scenario.

The liver - _fake_ liver- made a splattering sound when Tony dropped it on the tray next to his case. “Let’s get ourselves a little piece of this.”

The robot’s face had gone paper-white. All its joints seemed locked in place, but it was shaking. Waterfalls of blood flowed from the hole in its belly, and the smell of it was becoming overpowering. Pepper swallowed thickly to keep herself from gagging. How did Tony make it _smell_ like blood?

After sawing at the liver for a little while, Tony pulled off a small chunk. He held it in front of the robot’s face. “We don’t have an eagle handy. Luckily, we have something just as American.” Blood was dripping from the hunk of flush and landing on the robot, but it wasn’t reacting to anything anymore. It was just staring ahead, a total blank. Again. Like it had been when it emerged from the box. Pepper thought it might be broken, until Tony finally gave an order.

“Open your mouth.”

For just a moment, the robot’s lip quivered, but then its jaw swung open. Tony popped the piece of liver inside the mouth and it landed with a soft _plop_.

“Chew it and swallow.” Tony said, and Pepper watched as the robot’s jaw moved, slowly. Its throat undulated a few times, as though the chunk of liver was getting stuck there, as though it had to force itself to swallow. When, at long last, the thing was finally done, Steve gagged.

Pepper fought not to gag herself. _Its not real. Its not real_. The stench was real enough, though. It was heavy in the air, and Pepper’s skin almost felt sticky with it. It was getting it her mouth. She had to plug her nose and breath shallowly through her teeth.

“Oh please. It’s liver. People eat this voluntarily.” Tony pulled off another chunk and stuffed it in the robot’s mouth. Syrupy blood trickled out from between its lips as it seemed to sputter. “You are going to keep eating until there’s nothing left, or I get bored.” Tony warned, and he placed a bloody, gloved hand over the robot’s mouth until it swallowed.

After feeding the robot a third chunk of its liver, Tony started to poke around in the hole. Pepper could hear the wet, squishing sound of organs as Tony played in them. Fake organs. _Fake organs_. _Don’t throw up, oh god don’t throw up_.

“I can see it in your stomach.” Tony was practically purring. “I could cut it out and make you eat it all over again. Just like in the story.”

 _Don’t throw up_.

Steve swallowed. He was as pale as a corpse, but he seemed to summon some strength and began to whisper.

“Are you _speaking_?” Tony asked as he turned to his tray and started to cut up more chunks of liver. “Well, I can’t hear you if you don’t speak up.”

“Z…s…s…Zeus was…n’t the…” Steve twitched a few times, but somehow managed to hold himself up. “He-he-he-hero. In that… s…t…ory.”

Tony frowned deeply and glowered into the middle distance. “And you’re the expert on heroes, right?” He took one of the slices of flesh and shoved it into Steve’s mouth. “You think you’re so perfect. Everyone thinks you’re so perfect.” He shoved another piece between Steve’s lips. “I have you **cut open**! And you **still** want to condescend to me?” He stuffed another one in, and Steve’s cheeks were bulging now, and he was chewing desperately. “You are **nothing.** You’re a sickly, asthmatic little punk who got _lucky._ ”

With that, Tony jammed another piece in, and that was too much. Pepper watched Steve fight to keep his mouth closed, but she could hear him retching in the back of his throat, and finally he lurched forward and spluttered, spraying chewed up bits of offal across the room and all over his own body.

**_Don’t throw up_ ** **.**

It was almost impossible, but Pepper managed it. She gagged and she retched, but she kept it together, and -thankfully- the sounds she couldn’t stop herself from making were covered up by Tony’s hysterical laughter.

“Naughty boy. You got it inside you.”

Pepper couldn’t watch anymore, and she couldn’t listen. She shut her eyes and plugged her ears and decided she’d just have to deal with the smell. Thick saliva was pooling in her mouth, but she forced herself to swallow it.

It wasn’t real. It couldn’t be real.

This was a toy. It was like a video game. Tony was soft. He brought Pepper coffee in the morning and kissed her awake and filled her with quiet _I love yous_ until she could burst from the attention. _That_ was real. When Pepper came home from work, and she and Tony would curl up under a blanket and share each other’s heat, and they’d talk idly about the nothing they’d done all day just to hear each other’s voices, _that_ was real.

Resting on his chest and feeling his words vibrating through both their bodies, Pepper only ever half-listened to what he was saying. Thinking back now, she was starting to hear the words again.

_…Barton sang like a bird today, told us all her old hideouts, where she’d go… still working on the little witch problem, but I’ll figure it out soon… Ross is killing me, thinks I let Cap get away on purpose. But I didn’t…_

She knew what was happening. She didn’t want to know, but she knew.

There were tears in her eyes again, and she blinked them open. While lost in thought, she’d made herself very small, and now she couldn’t see what was going on, so she chanced a glance back out into the lab. It was all she could do. If she went out there now and tried to…

She just didn’t want to make him angry.

Tony was wiping his knife off with a dirty rag while Steve lay on the table and panted. The torn flesh in his abdomen had been folded back into its rightful position, and there were only tiny trickles of blood now. Blood and drool drizzled out of his open mouth, and his ghostly pale face was covered in it. The liver was nowhere to be seen, and Pepper didn’t want to think about where it had gone. Tentatively, she unplugged her ears.

“I honestly don’t know if it’ll grow back, so consider this an experiment.” Tony put his knife back in his case, then turned and unfastened the strap around Steve’s neck. He smirked. “Once again, Captain Rogers, science needs your body.”

“Oh…kay… I… k…g…k…yuh…eah.” Steve spat blood when he spoke.

Tony walked around the table and grabbed the hook. With his other hand, he braced himself on Steve’s blood-slick thigh. “I’m gonna count to three, ready?”

Steve nodded.

“One.” The hook came out in a spray of red as Tony yanked hard, and Steve screamed. He kept screaming as Tony wiped the hook down with the same rag he’d used on the knife and tossed it back in the case.

It had to be over soon, right? This was the end. It had to be.

“You’re gonna need a good hosing off.” Tony observed once the screaming had died down. Roughly, he grabbed Steve’s cock and balls, which just looked dead at that point. Steve gritted his teeth and fresh tears started spilling out of his eyes.

Tony unscrewed the vise once, twice, three times, then tugged it off. Steve wailed as his genitals sagged, limp and deflated, between his legs. Then, like magic, the color started returning to them. Color and, judging by the way Steve was sobbing and clenching his body, feeling.

“You can stop holding that position now.” Tony acquiesced. Immediately, Steve curled onto his side into the fetal position. Pepper saw the flesh on his belly knitting itself back together of its own accord, tricking blood from the small cracks still left. He was shaking with sobs and whimpering like an injured dog.

It _had_ to be over soon.

After putting the last of his instruments into his case and snapping it shut, Tony peeled off his bloody gloves and tossed them in the garbage. The gloves had been a little redundant; Tony was red up to his elbows. It was splattered on his face and clothes, along with a few pieces of flesh. He was a mess.

“I was right. That was funny.” Tony traipsed around the table, and Pepper saw the bulge in his pants. This had gotten him hard. “You know what this means, right?”

He was speaking to Steve over his shoulder, which was incredibly lucky, because if he’d been looking ahead, _really_ looking, he would have surely spotted where Pepper was hiding. He walked over to his workbench, pulled out his chair, and sat in it so he was facing Steve.

Steve lifted his head up slightly. He looked absolutely terrified, like a little kid huddled under his sheets to hide from the monster under his bed. “N…n…n…n…”

“Shh, shh. Don’t cry, Sweetheart.” Tony reached down and unzipped his fly. “It means now we get to play.”

A big, innocent smile spread over Steve’s face. He started to sit up. “Play? Y...you wanna play with me?”

“Yeah. Come here.” Tony pulled his cock out of his pants and began to stroke lazily. “Let’s play.”

Shakily, Steve slid off of the table. He stood unsteadily for just a moment before he stumbled to the ground and started crawling to Tony. It was slow going, he was clearly in a lot of pain, and blood kept oozing out of him, dripping along the path he was taking.

This wasn’t going to be over soon. Pepper wanted to close her eyes or look away, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t do anything but watch.

Finally, Steve made it to Tony and was kneeling before him. His face was alight with nauseating gratitude and he smiled giddily up at Tony. Tony held the head of his cock against Steve’s bloodied mouth.

“This is what you always wanted from me, right?” He said through his smile. “Look at you all eager for it. So fucking pathetic. Tell me again.”

“I love you.” Steve breathed. “I love you so much. I’d do anything for you. I lo-lo-lo-loved you.”

“Now, what do we say when we get to play?”

“Thank you.”

With his free hand, Tony grabbed Steve by the hair and dragged him forward. Steve opened his mouth eagerly as he was pulled onto Tony’s cock. He moaned around it as he bobbed up and down, slicking the shaft with his own blood, and all Pepper could think about was how she’d let Tony put that inside her.

Tony made noises like a pornstar through the entire thing. His head was tossed back and his eyes were closed. One hand stayed clenched in Steve’s hair, and the other gripped the armrest of the chair, white knuckled, like this was the best thing he’d ever felt.

It seemed to take forever for him to finally come, shouting, down Steve’s throat.

After basking in it for a few moments, Tony kicked Steve off of him. He swiveled in his chair so he faced his workbench and tucked his cock back into his pants while Steve curled in on himself.

“U, grab a mop. Dum-E, you’re on hose duty. It’s time to clean up and put our toys aw-“ Tony trailed off. Something  on the workbench had caught his eye. He picked it up and held it in front of his face, and as it glinted, Pepper’s blood turned to ice.

Her ring.

“FRIDAY, what was Pepper doing in the lab today?” Tony’s voice sounded thin.

There was a pause. “According to my surveillance, she _wasn’t_ in the lab today, Boss.”

“Then how’d her ring get- shit! The fucking _override codes_. I never disabled…” Tony looked around the room until finally his eyes settled on the open box in the corner. “Oh, Honey. Tell me you didn’t.” He muttered to himself. He stood up and loomed over Steve on the floor.

“Cap.” His tone was threatening. He waited, but Steve kept his eyes fixed on the ground. “I am speaking to you.”

Steve trembled, but didn’t look up.

“ _Look at me_ when I’m speaking to you.” Tony ordered, and this time Steve complied. “Did Pepper open your box?”

Steve spasmed and jerked violently. “N-n-n-n-n-“

“Don’t try to lie to me. Did she open your box?”

“N-n-n-n-n-n-“

“ **Did she. Open. The box**.”

Semen, blood and chewed up pieces of flesh splattered onto the floor as Steve puked violently. Tony jumped back before it got on his shoes. The smell of half-digested organs and bile hit Pepper like a freight train. This time she couldn’t stop herself. She retched and vomited down the front of her shirt.

The sound was enough to make Tony turn, and now that he was looking, he spotted her easily.

He looked upset, afraid even. Or maybe Pepper was just projecting.

She ran. Before Tony could react she bolted for the door, but she wasn’t fast enough. A hand clamped down on her wrist and she was yanked roughly backwards. Then, Tony grabbed her other wrist, holding her in place.

“Pepper! Pepper _listen_. Let me explain.” He was so close, Pepper had no choice but to look at him. “It’s a robot. It’s not what it looks like.”

“No! This is _exactly_ what it looks like!” Pepper sobbed. “Let me go you _bastard_. You _sick fucking-_ “

He slapped her and she reeled. She didn’t know this person anymore.

“No. Oh no no no. I’m… I didn’t… shit.” He sounded choked up. “Pep… oh god. I didn’t mean-“

She shouldn’t make him angry. She should avoid that.

“I know. I know you didn’t mean to.” She said softly. All she wanted was to get out of this room.

“I just- I thought you were going to leave.” He was still gripping one of her wrists painfully. “I can’t lose you. I need you Pepper.”

“I need you too.” If she waited until he fell asleep, there’d be time to come up with an escape plan. “I’m sorry I came in your lab and watched you… play. With your…” Pepper looked at Steve, who was sitting stock still in his own vomit. “Robot.”

Tony deflated. He looked exhausted. Miserable. He sighed quietly. “Do you think I’m stupid?”

Pepper tried a different tactic. “Please. Tony. You’re hurting me.”

“Nobody ever thinks about how they’re hurting _me_.” Tony said. “I have tried so hard to make you happy. I love you so much. And you just throw it back in my face, always… _nagging_ me to change, like I’m not good enough.”

“I… I’m sorry.” Pepper was shaking. She’d done it. She’d made him angry.

“It’s okay. I still love you. I can’t stop.” Tony looked at her softly. If she didn’t know any better, she’d have said _kindly_. Affectionately. “And that’s why I’m gonna have to make you just a little easier to deal with.”

**Author's Note:**

> SPOILER TW: brainwashing
> 
> And, just to be extra clear because I hate anti-Tony stuff, this is NOT me saying "Oh isn't Tony such a villain?" Its more like "What if Tony WAS a villain." V different.


End file.
